The relationship between the elements of authentic leadership and individual employee (follower) job satisfaction within South Africa

Abstract

This research examined the views of South African-employed workers regarding the potential relationship that the elements of authentic leadership may have on their job satisfaction. Using a qualitative methodology, the study has explored the relationships between each of the elements of authentic leadership (namely selfawareness, balanced processing, relational transparency and internalised moral perspective) and employee (follower) job satisfaction within a South African context. The research expands on a portion of a previous study, named Authentic Leadership: Development and Validation of a Theory-Based Measure. Part of the original study used a quantitative methodology to determine the relationship between a supervisor displaying high levels of authentic leadership and the resultant job satisfaction levels of the employees reporting to that supervisor. Using a semi-structured interview questionnaire, data was collected during interviews with 15 participants. The key components of the interview comprised the participants’ views on job satisfaction, including their definition of job satisfaction and what they believed drove their job satisfaction; a specific conversation regarding the impact of leadership on the participants’ job satisfaction and, finally, an understanding of the importance of each element of authentic leadership in relation to the participants’ job satisfaction. Key findings from this study are as follows: although leadership is not the only aspect of an employee’s job satisfaction, it is a very important and is often the difference between a satisfied employee and an unsatisfied employee. Although considered important, a leader’s level of self-awareness was not emphasised as much as the remaining three authentic leadership elements; this is because followers are unlikely to directly recognise the factors of self-awareness as they are inwardly focussed on the leader. Relational transparency and internalised moral perspective, on the other hand were found to influence the fundamental trust relationship between a leader and employees; thus, participants considered high levels of each of these elements being present in leaders a crucial requirement for their job satisfaction. iii The study concludes that each of the elements of authentic leaderships was found to impact positively on employee job satisfaction by influencing the drivers of job satisfaction or the foundation of the relationship between a leader and a follower; trust. As such a study has not been conducted in a South African context, the findings suggest that this research is significant.